My So-Called Japanese Life

My apartment is pretty small, dark and airless so I have to leave the lights on in nearly every room to keep them lit sufficiently to work i...

At this time of year, every kind-hearted Japanese person who I speak with (which is pretty much every one that I actually speak with), tells...

As the end of the year approaches, ones thoughts turn to the annual cleaning binge that comes just prior to the start of the year. While I...

This morning while I was washing dishes, I heard my washing machine start to spin an imbalanced load of wet clothes and then stop because it...

"Wet paint" signs near the newly-painted step up to our entryway. If you sign a rent contract in Japan, there's a good chance ...

There's an episode of the Simpsons in which Marge insists everyone help clean up the house before going about their daily business. I...

Click the image to load a much larger one which is at a legible size. Awhile back, I was asked in comments about the layout of our apartment...

The poor little fellow on the right in front isn't getting his share of heat and has become the runt of the litter. Though I took delive...

Lately, I've been looking around for more resources to improve small space living and I've run across some rather extreme notions an...

The old joke that your kids like the boxes their toys come in at Christmas time more than the toys themselves wouldn't ring true to us i...

Any time something goes wrong, people are apt to quote (or mis-quote) Murphy's Law . Murphy's Law is often said to be, "whateve...

This morning I was standing in the kitchen preparing an English muffin for breakfast when I heard the familiar sound of something being shov...

Those of you who have no interest in how I continually move the furniture around in our small place in order to maximize efficiency and are ...

This morning, I decided I'd better go out and pump up my low tires before heading off to the market. The front tire seemed okay after ab...

I recently read that the difference between people who shop so much that they end up living beyond their means or at least who shop for recr...